MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The controversial article in the German tabloid Bild about a possible military clash between Russia and NATO by 2025 is aimed at scaring the average citizen and serving as an argument in favor of greater support for Ukraine, the deputy speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, has said.

"In some secret document of the German Defense Ministry, which 'purely by chance' was obtained by Bild, describes a 'path to a conflict' between Russia and NATO. Obviously, there was a no simple task to scare the average person and make him, against the background of austerity measures in the economy, spend ever more on the 'Ukraine project' and support the overseas partner, which is clearly steering the German economy to a collapse, while profiting the most from the conflict," Kosachev wrote in his Telegram channel.

In his opinion, it is pointless to discuss the realism of proposed scenarios of Russia's future conflict with NATO, because "the purpose of this 'leak' is by no means to show the level of analysis, which, of course, is being conducted in any country at some level."

"In this case, the German people are being persuaded to accept an idea, which is not very ethical to voice aloud but is easy to formulate in one’s mind after reading the so-called experts’ opinion: may Ukrainians die today rather than Germans will die tomorrow. This is quite in line with what the current 'defenders of Europe' themselves are pressing for: you should better give us money and weapons now rather than go to war yourselves later," Kosachev noted.

He believes that such an "unsophisticated and rather clumsy" trick shows "that the leaders of the Western anti-Russian alliance have ever fewer means of brainwashing their population."

"The people are beginning to protest more and believe less the politicians who keep talking about an inevitable collapse of Europe, if they don't inject financial and military resources into Ukraine right away, although the West itself is running out of both. They used to say the same thing all the time: that the purpose of all these crazy sanctions and suicidal severing of ties with Russia was to make the cost of the conflict too high for the Russians. But it has turned out that in the long run this price is too high for them. Russia has not collapsed, while there is no 'plan B' at hand, and the only thing left is to scare their own people to a degree that will intimidate everyone else, too," Kosachev said.

He also added that there is always an alternative, but it will imply a return to a dialogue on an equal footing and respect for other people's interests.

"However, taking such bold steps and recognizing one’s own mistakes are not what the current European leaders are very good at. They are more accustomed to walking like somnambulists towards a global conflict," Kosachev concluded.

Article in Bild

The German newspaper Bild published an article claiming that a "hybrid Russian attack" on NATO's eastern flank is considered by Germany’s Defense Ministry as one of the hypothetical scenarios. The tabloid refers to an allegedly secret memorandum.